Document delivery method and system with automated printing and enveloping

ABSTRACT

In a document delivery method and system, a sending computer is adapted to be operated by a sending party to send out an electronic document. A receiving unit, which is situated at a mail delivery service provider, is operable so as to establish a network connection with the sending computer so as to receive the electronic document therefrom. A printing unit is coupled to the receiving unit, receives the electronic document from the receiving unit, and makes a printed document that corresponds to the electronic document. An enveloping unit is operable so as to wrap the printed document in enveloping material. A conveying unit, which is disposed between the printing unit and the enveloping unit, is responsible for conveying the printed document from the printing unit to the enveloping unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention relates to a document delivery method and system,more particularly to a document delivery method and system that involvesautomated printing and enveloping.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Currently, there exist many problems, such as lack of security,software language incompatibility, file size limitations, lack ofmessage receipt notification, etc., which discourage the use ofelectronic mail for message transmission. As such, documents, which areunsuitable for transmission as electronic mail, are still being handledin printed form. In the conventional method of delivering printeddocuments, a sending party initially has to make a printed copy of anelectronic document stored in a data storage medium that is accessed bya personal computer. The printed document is then placed in an envelope,either in a manual or automated manner, before being sent to a postoffice or mail courier who is responsible for sending the same to theintended mail recipient. It is evident that the aforesaid conventionaldelivery method is laborious, involves numerous tasks, and is not costeffective.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to providea document delivery method and system that includes automated printingand enveloping to reduce manpower involvement and to lower deliverycosts.

[0006] According to one aspect of the invention, a document deliverysystem comprises:

[0007] a sending computer adapted to be operated by a sending party tosend out an electronic document;

[0008] a receiving unit operable so as to establish a network connectionwith the sending computer so as to receive the electronic documenttherefrom;

[0009] a printing unit coupled to the receiving unit so as to receivethe electronic document therefrom, the printing unit being operable soas to make a printed document that corresponds to the electronicdocument;

[0010] an enveloping unit operable so as to wrap the printed document inenveloping material; and

[0011] a conveying unit, disposed between the printing unit and theenveloping unit, for conveying the printed document from the printingunit to the enveloping unit.

[0012] According to another aspect of the invention, a document deliverymethod comprises the steps of:

[0013] via a sending computer that is under the control of a sendingparty, creating an electronic document, and establishing a networkconnection with a receiving unit situated at a mail delivery serviceprovider so as to transmit the electronic document from the sendingcomputer to the receiving unit;

[0014] printing the electronic document received by the receiving unitso as to make a printed document; and

[0015] automatically conveying the printed document to an envelopingunit so as to commence automated wrapping of the printed document inenveloping material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

[0017]FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the documentdelivery system of this invention;

[0018]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a printing and envelopingapparatus of the document delivery system of this invention; and

[0019]FIG. 3 illustrates an enveloping process of the apparatus of FIG.2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, in the document delivery system ofthis invention, a sending computer 1, such as a personal computer (PC),is adapted to be operated by a sending party so as to create and edit anelectronic document. The sending computer 1 is then operated by thesending party to establish an Internet connection 2 with a mail deliveryservice provider 3, such as a post office, mail courier or company mailroom, to transmit the electronic document in a format that complies withone of the FTP and HTTP protocols. The mail delivery service provider 3is provided with a receiving unit 4 to receive the electronic document.The receiving unit 4 provides the electronic document to a printing unit5, which is responsible for making a printed copy of the electronicdocument (hereinafter referred to as printed document 9). In oneembodiment, the receiving unit 4 is a receiving computer, and theprinting unit 5 is a computer printer coupled to the receiving computer.In another embodiment, the receiving and printing units4, 5 are jointlyimplemented in a facsimile machine.

[0021] A conveying unit 6 is vertically disposed between the printingunit 5 and an enveloping unit 7, and is responsible for conveying theprinted document 9 from the printing unit 5 to the enveloping unit 7.The conveying unit 6 includes a casing 61 having a document inlet sideadjacent to the printing unit 5 and a document outlet side adjacent tothe enveloping unit 7, and a guide plate 62 disposed in the casing 61and extending between the document inlet and document outlet sides.Upper and lower sensors 63, 63′ are mounted in the casing 61 adjacent tothe guide plate 62. A drive device 64, which includes rollers 642, 643driven rotatably by a motor 641, is disposed on in the casing 61 on oneside of the guide plate 62. A press device, in the form of press plates65, is disposed in the casing 61 and is adapted to press the printeddocument 9 against the drive device 64. Thus, when the upper sensor 63detects that the printed document 9 has entered into the document inletside of the casing 61, the motor 641 is activated to drive rotation ofthe rollers 642, 643, thereby guiding the printed document 9 to movealong the guide plate 62 from the document inlet side to the documentoutlet side. The motor 641 is deactivated to stop rotation of therollers 642, 643 when the sensors 63, 63′ cease to detect the printeddocument 9, indicating that the printed document 9 has exited thedocument outlet side of the casing 61.

[0022] The enveloping unit 7, which is disposed at a lower end of theconveying unit 6, is responsible for wrapping the printed document 9from the conveying unit 6 in enveloping material 781. The envelopingunit 7 includes a horizontally extending document feed slot 72 having abottom portion formed with a blade port 74, and a feed roller set 71disposed at one end of the document feed slot 72 for guiding the printeddocument 9 from the conveying unit 6 into the document feed slot 72. Avertically movable folding blade 73 is disposed above the document feedslot 72, and is aligned vertically with the blade port 74. Two rolls 78of plastic enveloping material 781 are disposed below the document feedslot 72. The enveloping unit 7 further includes a heating wire 75 and awelding jaw 76 disposed below the document feed slot 72 on oppositesides of the blade port 74, and a vertical seal forming set 77 disposedbelow the heating wire 75 and the welding jaw 76. The ends of theenveloping material 781 taken from the two rolls 78 are welded togetherto form a horizontal seam that is located below the blade port 74 andabove the heating wire 75 and the welding jaw 76.

[0023] In operation, the feed roller set 71 guides the printed document9 from the conveying unit 6 into the document feed slot 72. When anintermediate part of the printed document 9 is aligned with the bladeport 74, the folding blade 73 is moved downwardly to engage the printeddocument 9 and to force the printed document 9 to pass through the bladeport 74. The printed document 9 is folded as it passes through the bladeport 74, and is forced into abutment with the enveloping material 781fed by the rolls 78 to cover opposite sides of the printed document 9.Top edges of the enveloping material 781 that covers the printeddocument 9 are welded by means of the heating wire 75 and the weldingjaw 76, whereas vertical edges of the same are welded by the verticalseal forming set 77, thereby enclosing the printed document 9 in anenvelope.

[0024] A document box 8 is disposed below the enveloping unit 7 tocollect the enveloped document 9 that drops from the latter. A plungermechanism 83 is disposed in the document box 8, and includes a pressplate 81 and an arm device 82. The plunger mechanism 83 pushes theenveloped document 9 towards one side of the document box 8.

[0025] The enveloped documents 9 collected in the document box 8 areeventually retrieved by an employee of the mail delivery serviceprovider 3 for subsequent hand-delivery to their intended mailrecipients.

[0026] It has thus been shown that the document delivery method andsystem of this invention eliminates the need for the sending party tomake a printed copy of the electronic document, and to send the printeddocument to a post office or mail courier, thereby resulting in reducedmanpower involvement, lower delivery costs and shorter delivery time soas to increase the document delivery efficiency.

[0027] While the present invention has been described in connection withwhat is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements includedwithin the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

We claim:
 1. A document delivery system, comprising: a sending computeradapted to be operated by a sending party to send out an electronicdocument; a receiving unit operable so as to establish a networkconnection with said sending computer so as to receive the electronicdocument therefrom; a printing unit coupled to said receiving unit so asto receive the electronic document therefrom, said printing unit beingoperable so as to make a printed document that corresponds to theelectronic document; an enveloping unit operable so as to wrap theprinted document in enveloping material; and a conveying unit, disposedbetween said printing unit and said enveloping unit, for conveying theprinted document from said printing unit to said enveloping unit.
 2. Thedocument delivery system of claim 1, wherein said sending computer sendsout the electronic document in a format that complies with FTP protocol.3. The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said sendingcomputer sends out the electronic document in a format that complieswith HTTP protocol.
 4. The document delivery system of claim 1, whereinsaid receiving unit is situated at a mail delivery service provider. 5.The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said receiving unitincludes a receiving computer.
 6. The document delivery system of claim5, wherein said printing unit includes a computer printer.
 7. Thedocument delivery system of claim 1, wherein said receiving unit andsaid printing unit are jointly implemented in a facsimile machine. 8.The document delivery system of claim 1, wherein said conveying unitincludes: a casing having a document inlet side adjacent to saidprinting unit, and a document outlet side adjacent to said envelopingunit; a guide plate disposed in said casing and extending between saiddocument inlet side and said document outlet side; a drive devicedisposed in said casing and operable so as to move the printed documentalong said guide plate from said document inlet side to said documentoutlet side; and a sensing device coupled to said drive device foractivating said drive device upon detecting that the printed documenthas entered into said document inlet side, and for deactivating saiddrive device upon detecting that the printed document has exited saiddocument outlet side of said casing.
 9. The document delivery system ofclaim 8, wherein said drive device includes a roller set, and a motorfor driving rotatably said roller set.
 10. The document delivery systemof claim 8, wherein said conveying unit further includes a press platedisposed in said casing and adapted to press the printed documentagainst said drive device.
 11. The document delivery system of claim 1,wherein said enveloping unit includes: a horizontally extending documentfeed slot having a bottom portion formed with a blade port; a feedroller set disposed at one end of said document feed slot for guidingthe printed document from said conveying unit into said document feedslot; a vertically movable folding blade disposed above said documentfeed slot and aligned vertically with said blade port, said foldingblade being movable downwardly to engage the printed document and toforce the printed document to pass through said blade port, therebyfolding the printed document as the printed document passes through saidblade port; a roll unit disposed below said document feed slot andoperative so as to feed the enveloping material for covering oppositesides of the printed document that passes through said blade port; andseal forming means operable so as to weld edges of the envelopingmaterial that wraps the printed document, thereby enclosing the printeddocument in an envelope.
 12. The document delivery system of claim 1,further comprising a document box for collecting the printed documentfrom said enveloping unit.
 13. The document delivery system of claim 12,further comprising a plunger mechanism disposed in said document box andoperable so as to push the printed document toward one side of saiddocument box.
 13. A document delivery method, comprising the steps of:via a sending computer that is under the control of a sending party,creating an electronic document, and establishing a network connectionwith a receiving unit situated at a mail delivery service provider so asto transmit the electronic document from the sending computer to thereceiving unit; printing the electronic document received by thereceiving unit so as to make a printed document; and automaticallyconveying the printed document to an enveloping unit so as to commenceautomated wrapping of the printed document in enveloping material. 15.The document delivery method of claim 14, wherein the sending computertransmits the electronic document to the receiving unit in a format thatcomplies with one of the FTP and HTTP protocols.
 16. The documentdelivery method of claim 14, further comprising the step of collectingenveloped documents from the enveloping unit, and delivering theenveloped documents to intended mail recipients.